Sps issues...

[Fishguy_8]

My tanks been running for about 5 years as a fish only and just under a year ago I decided to make the move to converting to a reef tank. LPS and Zoas have done great, I have a large Ritteri anemone that’s also quite happy presumably. I made a few additions with sps and I’m getting mixed results and recently I’m seeing some not great trends. I have a garf bonsai, green slimer, wwc yoda, and a few others doing quite well. Over 6 months they’ve been encrusting, coloring up and growing new nubs. When I add new pieces typically I’ll see a pretty abrasive initial response where color flushes out, and some tissue is lost, but over a month or two, the tissue comes back and color returns and they are back and as good as new. Yesterday I had my wwc frogskin acro go from solid color to 95% tissue loss and its bleach white. The next day I say little white spots popping up on my wwc madman austera and wwc Hollywood dreams. Meanwhile the others that were doing well in the past couldn’t look happier, anemone looks the same. Flow doesn’t seem like an issue I have an mp10 and a maxspect gyre creating alternating currents (gyre Ramps to 60% power up and down while mp10 is reefcrest mode to 100% on a 60g cube). Water test as of today is as follows:

Alk:9.0 (hanna)
Ca: 540 (Hanna)
Mg: 1320 (salifert)
No3: 5ppm (Nyos)
Po4: .003 (hanna ULR)
Salinity: 1.026
pH: 8.0 (salifert)

I haven’t dosed anything for calcium and my readings stay in the 500s I use the black bucket by red sea and do 20% water changes every 2 weeks. But dose alk (20mL) about every 2 days. No3 and po4 are on the low side but I can’t imagine that could be causing both the hot spots and that sudden tissue loss could it? Any help appreciated.

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

To clarify, is your phosphate 0.03 or 0.003?

 

[Fishguy_8]

To clarify, is your phosphate 0.03 or 0.003?

.003. The UlR is in ppb so the check came in at 1ppb of phosphorus so the conversion is 1x3.066/1000= .003

 

[tntdsol]

To me you Calcuim and Alk look high for the amount of phosphorus you have. Usually to run a higher calcium and alk you need higher nutrients. Not sure if this is what causing the problem. I am following along for the "expert" opinion.

 

[Pdash]

I'm not an expert, but calcium is a bit high and should probably be lowered slowly, although I highly doubt this is your issue. Are you light acclimating new corals, starting them in lower light and moving them to higher light slowly? Do you dip or quarantine new corals, white spots sounds like bit marks, but pictures would be helpful on all counts. good luck friend

 

[Fishguy_8]

I'm not an expert, but calcium is a bit high and should probably be lowered slowly, although I highly doubt this is your issue. Are you light acclimating new corals, starting them in lower light and moving them to higher light slowly? Do you dip or quarantine new corals, white spots sounds like bit marks, but pictures would be helpful on all counts. good luck friend

I do dip, and acclimate them for 30min to the water and then 7 days in lower light up to where they get planted. They spots they are secured at they’ve been at for weeks and then this hit out of seemingly nowhere. I just brought on a refugium maybe a month ago to get better control of no3 and po4 as they were high and I was getting some red algae on the sand and saw a small patch of hair algae, since then I’ve been driving nutrient levels down with gfo at first and then when that got them down to about .05 I took it off line and brought in a refugium. The white coral is the frogskin that lost almost all of its tissue the coral behind it has some kind of brownish colored slime that has somehow gotten on it even though it’s in direct flow of the gyre. The other coral is the Hollywood dreams that just the top of it is white.

 

[Fishguy_8]

And here is the slimer and bonsai which are acting just fine. Right by the hawks fins you can see some of the white spots on the madman. Is the hawk perching on the coral possibly a reason for the spots? And not the massive tissue loss?

 

[jda]

I would get the calcium down, as well as the alk, but neither of these are likely causing your issues... just something to do over time.

Don't worry about the pH.

Are you changing water? If I do not, then I can get white spots where my soft tissue cannot rebuild. They need traces.

You can also get hot spots from too much of some LED diodes. I am just assuming from the massive shadowing in the photos that you might use LED. If you are running LED only and have them up way high, then lowering them and adding some T5s to carry some load is a good idea and many have gone this way. If not, then never mind.

 

[Fishguy_8]

I would get the calcium down, as well as the alk, but neither of these are likely causing your issues... just something to do over time.

Don't worry about the pH.

Are you changing water? If I do not, then I can get white spots where my soft tissue cannot rebuild. They need traces.

You can also get hot spots from too much of some LED diodes. I am just assuming from the massive shadowing in the photos that you might use LED. If you are running LED only and have them up way high, then lowering them and adding some T5s to carry some load is a good idea and many have gone this way. If not, then never mind.

The calcium I’m not sure how to get it down as I don’t dose anything. The calcium levels are running that high just off of water changes. I run a singl AI Hydra 26 about 7-8” off of the water (on the ecotech rms mount) but yea that’s the only light I have running. I run the below setting which is the AB+ settings that BRS suggested. I run a 1 hour ramp up and 1hr ramp down from 9am to 9pm.

 

[SeaDweller]

The calcium I’m not sure how to get it down as I don’t dose anything. The calcium levels are running that high just off of water changes. I run a singl AI Hydra 26 about 7-8” off of the water (on the ecotech rms mount) but yea that’s the only light I have running. I run the below setting which is the AB+ settings that BRS suggested. I run a 1 hour ramp up and 1hr ramp down from 9am to 9pm.

What alt are you using?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Alk is too high for 0.003 po4. You’re most likely going to struggle with a single 26 on a 60 gallon cube. I par tested those settings on a 26 12” above my 29 gallon biocube and they only produce 175 par at the mid point of the tank.

 

[tntdsol]

I have a 60 cube and run 2xHydea 52HD. I agree with Chase. 1 hydra 26 isnt enough for SPS.

 

[Fishguy_8]

What alt are you using?

Red Sea Coral Pro

 

[dank reefer]

Red Sea Coral Pro

Switch to red sea blue bucket. Pro has way high alk, and cal.

And agree with the lights. Your going to need more light for sps.

If you want to keep the 26hd, then buy 1 more 26hd, and pair it with a aquaticlife hybrid fixture. You'll gain about 180-200 par with the 4 t5 depending on which bulb config you go for.

I switch from Instant Oceans reef crystals, to red sea blue bucket as RC mixed to 1.026 gave me about 12dkh, and 500 cal.